//------------------------------// // The Hatchling // Story: The Royal Canterlot Family // by CartoonNerd12 //------------------------------// Apple Jewel was drinking from her cocoa as she sat across from her mother and stared at her. Applejack noticed and asked, "What's wrong, sugar cube?" "Nothing. I was just wondering how you and Daddy met." Applejack smiled, "Oh, that was a long time ago." Twilight came over and said, "It certainly was. In fact, we all met your dad when he was just an egg." The rest of the kids heard this and they all shouted, "WHAT?!" The girls smiled as Twilight began the tale, "It was on a rainy night when a guard came to our mother holding a basket in his mouth…" -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The little princesses were playing a board game with their mother until a guard came up with a basket and gently set it down. "Your Highness, we found this on the front steps of the castle." Celestia looked at the basket curiously and so did her daughters. Using her magic, she lifted the basket to them and carefully lifted the wrappings off. To their surprise, it revealed a purple-spotted egg. "What is it, Mother?" Fluttershy inquired. "It's an egg, my darling. But what kind of egg, I do not know." "It could be a bird!" said Rarity. "Or a dinosaur!" said Pinkie. "We won't know until hatches." said Celestia. "I wish we could find out now." said Rainbow. "I think I saw a spell in my books to help an egg hatch faster." mentioned Twilight. Celestia pondered on this, "Then why don't you take the egg for now, my darling, to help you practice that spell?" "Can I?!" her eyes gleamed. Her mother chuckled, "Of course." Twilight lifted the egg, "Oh, this is going to be so much fun!" A couple of days later, Twilight and the egg were in the library. She was carefully studying the spell and was trying to perform it, but it didn't seem to work. Applejack came into the room to see her sister was struggling, "Anything?" "It's so hard!" Twilight wailed. "Maybe you're trying too hard…?" Suddenly, they heard arguing out in the hall. She assured her little sis, "I'll take care of this." AJ went out to find Pinkie and Rainbow Dash yelling at each other. "You took my party cannon!" "Did not!" "Did too!" "Did not!" "Did too, too, too!" "Pinkie! Dash! Stop it! Twilight is trying to focus!" Applejack yelled. "I'll stop fighting when Dashie gives me back my party cannon!" "For the hundred-millionth time, I don't have it!" She lifted her back hoof up to hit it against the wall, but she missed it and hit a table instead. The vase fell off and it crashed. Twilight was startled by the crash and suddenly, a magical surge went through her horn and its beam touched the egg. Back in the hall, Rainbow, Pinkie, and Applejack were gaping at the broken vase. Pinkie said, "Ooh, you're going to be in so much trouble!" "What are you talking about?! This is your fault!" "My fault?!" The bickering resumed until they heard cheering. "I did it! I actually did it!" They rushed into the library to see Twilight was right and that the egg was beginning to hatch. Pinkie squealed in joy and called out, "Fluttershy! Rarity! Come quick! The egg is hatching!" The four fillies gathered around the egg just as Rarity and Fluttershy rushed in. "Ooh! This so exciting!" exclaimed Rarity. The fillies watched in anticipation as the egg slowly cracked and a tiny foot popped out, then another. Tiny legs and arms followed, leaving just an eggshell on top of the baby creature's head. Dash noted, "It's…" The eggshell fell off, revealing the creature's species. "A dragon!" they all screamed in fright and ran out of the room. The little purple dragon with green scales just cooed and sucked on its tail. Twilight poked her head in the doorway, followed by the rest of her sisters. "Aw, he doesn't seem so dangerous." mentioned Fluttershy. "In fact, he's kind of cute!" said Pinkie. "Adorable!" Rarity indicated. "Huh, I guess he sort of is." said Applejack as she got a little closer and ended up smiling at the lovable thing. "How do you know it's a boy?" questioned Rainbow. "It could be a girl instead." said Rarity. AJ just shrugged. Twilight gestured, "I say we bring it to Mother, then she can tell us." The girls all nodded. Minutes later, they were in the throne room with their mother overlooking the dragon while making funny faces, causing the creature to giggle. She faced her daughters and told them, "It's a boy, girls." The girls awed, though some of those awes were full of disappointment. Rarity said, "I wanted to have a tea party with our new baby dragon if it was a girl." "Well, since it's a boy, which is cool by the way," said Rainbow, "I can teach him how to fence and play ball!" Celestia chuckled, "It would be quite a while before you can teach a baby the things you want to do. First, you must let the baby get used to his surroundings and you have to take care of him." "How do we do that, Mommy?" Pinkie asked. "Babies are a great responsibility. They must be fed and their diapers need to be changed." "Ewww!" the girls grimaced. Their mother chuckled, "Don't worry, you won't have to do that. I'll have nursemaids doing those things. However, this little dragon will need constant care and attention, so that would be the perfect job for all of you." They smiled at that. "Now, then…" she had the baby dragon face her, "what shall we call you?" Pinkie waved her hoof, "Ooh! Ooh! How about Fido!" Rainbow countered, "He's a dragon, not a dog! I say we name him, Crusher!" "Oh, but that's such an awful name for such a cute little face!" pointed Rarity. "I think he needs a more regal name, like… Duke!" Applejack and Rainbow gagged at the idea. There were a few more name suggestions until Fluttershy meekly said, "Um… what about… Spike?" There was a pause as they looked at the dragon and slowly grinned. "Spike! It's perfect!" motioned Twilight. The others made sounds of agreement. Celestia asked, "Is that your final choice, my darlings?" There was more agreeing before she said, "Very well." She lifted the dragon up high as he cooed and she said, "From this day on, you will henceforth be named Spike, the first dragon of Canterlot Castle! You will live under my protection with my daughters as your caretakers. Would you like that?" Spike gurgled as if to say "yes", causing the girls to gush. As the days followed, the girls would visit Spike in his nursery. They would watch as the nursemaids took care of him. There were even times when they were allowed to help feed him crushed gems and his bottle. They grew close to the dragon, though it was Twilight and Applejack that would help the maids the most, causing Spike to get attached to them. One day, Twilight was busy studying a new spell book and the other girls were doing their own thing, but Applejack was the only one able to visit Spike. He was in his highchair as AJ started feeding him the crushed gems, but he was being difficult. "Come on, Spike. One little bite?" she held the spoon to his mouth. Spike fussed. "But you love rubies and emeralds!" He still fussed. "Spike…" she frowned, "If you don't eat your gems, how are you supposed to grow into a big, strong dragon?" He pounded on the tray and the bowl landed on her head, causing the baby dragon to giggle. She said playfully, "Why, you little…" The dragon was still giggling. A maid gave AJ a cloth for her to wipe off the mush that went with the gems. Spike was clapping his hands together. Then the maid picked him up as they headed for a tub full of water. "It's time for his bath, Princess Applejack." "Can I stay and help?" "Well… if you really want to." She gave her a rubber duck, "You can use this to distract him while I get him clean." "Okay," she took the duckie and squeezed it. Spike turned his head toward the sound and reached out for it playfully until the maid set him in the water, where he immediately started splashing around. Applejack used the duck again and he stopped moving as he stared at it with wonder. AJ smiled as she kept squeezing the duck and brought it closer to him. He touched her hoof. When he was squeaky clean, the maid wrapped a towel around him and told Applejack, "I have to find a fresh diaper for him. Would you like to hold him?" AJ's eyes gleamed, "Yeah!" She held her hooves out as the dragon was gently set in the diaper. Spike stared at her and she stared back at him. Their green eyes locked on to each other. "You really are the cutest dragon in the world." she said. He cooed in agreement as his hand reached out to touch a strain of her hair and he played with it before he moved on to touch her cheek. This made her smile further. The maid then came back and she handed Spike back to her. She told him, "AJ has to go now, but I'll be back. I promise." She ran out the room and once she was out of earshot, Spike started crying. It was late at night when all the princesses were in their chamber and in their beds when they awoke to the sound of the loud crying. "Is that Spike?" Rarity gasped. "Oh, the poor thing…" said Fluttershy. Rainbow grumbled, "Oh, not now. I need my sleep!" She threw a pillow over her face. Twilight said, "I'm sure the maids will take care of it. They do everything else to take care of Spike." But Applejack didn't like hearing the cries that Spike was making. She got out of her bed and announced, "I'm going to go check on him." She rushed out and went straight to the nursery, where she saw the maids were trying hopelessly to calm him down. But the moment Applejack approached the crib, Spike saw her and his cries were turned to happy coos. The maids sighed in relief. "It appears it missed you, Your Highness," spoke the maid she saw during her visit. Spike was reaching out to her playfully. Applejack smiled as she held her hoof out and his little claw touched it. She turned back to the maids, "Could you… give us a minute?" The maids nodded and left the room. "See?" Applejack turned back the dragon, "I promised I would be back… I always stay true to my word." He cooed. "But we have to go to sleep now, okay? I need sleep and you need sleep, got it?" Spike babbled. "I'll take that as a 'yes'." She started turning to go, "Good night, Spike." "A… J…" Applejack stopped dead in her tracks as she slowly turned around in shock, "Wha… What did you say?" "A…J… AJ!" Applejack had never felt so touched in her life, "You… You said my name!" Spike giggled and jumped a little. Applejack could not stop smiling as she left the nursery and when she got back to her and her sisters' room, she could see that they were fast asleep, which was fine with her. This was a special moment she wanted to keep all to herself… Present day Applejack was smiling at her daughter and her gaping sisters. "Spike's first word was 'AJ'?!" Rainbow said. "I thought it was 'Mom'!" Pinkie pointed to Twilight. "So did I," Twilight mentioned. "But if Applejack is recalling correctly, then that was shortly before he did start calling me 'Mom'." Rarity gestured toward her sister, "Why now are you revealing this? How could have you kept it a secret for so long?" AJ shrugged, "I guess it didn't matter at the time. It was just something personal to me knowing Spike really liked me that much to use my nickname like that." "How romantic!" Apple Jewel sighed lovingly. Her mother chuckled, "Well, at the time it wasn't out of romance, but it was really sweet… Your dad really knows how to impress the mares even when he doesn't really mean it." The girls couldn't help but laugh at that.